The Test

by Todd Fahnestock

  He left his room confused and came out onto the balcony overlooking the grand foyer. He was tempted to rush straight to the practice room, but he hesitated, then went to the Floating Room instead. As he waited for the rotation, he noticed a few of the other Animas looking at him.

  They’ve heard, he thought. They know we’re testing today.

  The Anima floor slowly aligned with the platform, and a dozen Animas, including Brom, stepped into the room. He went to the far side, to the wheel of gravity-defying shelves, each stacked with every kind of food that could be imagined. He chose a bland porridge, strawberries, and a glass of milk, then took it all back to one of the tables. Conversations hushed when he walked by, and then picked up again when he sat down. He didn’t have to read their souls to know they were talking about Quad Brilliant.

  He wolfed down the porridge and left the room with all eyes on him. He went through the halls toward the practice room, wondering what he would find, if anything, when he arrived. Oriana had said they should meet up before the Test today, but she hadn’t said to meet in the practice room.

  Along the way, he saw The Collector leading a line of third-years, a dozen of them, all from different paths. They went through the front doors and outside. It struck him as odd, and then he remembered a snippet of conversation from the Floating Room. Someone had mentioned that all third- and fourth-years were participating in a Mentis exercise being conducted by the masters. He’d never seen that kind of procession leaving the dormitory before, nor heard of any exercise that would take students from their meals.

  Then he saw Vale loitering outside the practice room and he forgot about The Collector. She looked like she had been waiting for Brom. The grand foyer, which led to each of the practice rooms as well as the stairways to the dormitories, was bright with light slanting in from the giant stained-glass window at the front of the building.

  Vale had managed to stand in the only shadow along the wall, cast by an overhead beam. She raised one finger to her lips and beckoned him with her other hand. He came closer, his heart beating faster. Her wild brown hair tumbled to her shoulders as though she’d just finished running here. Her lips looked wet, eager, and her brown eyes smoldered with desire.

  She gave him the sexy smile she’d used on him time and again. He knew she was just playing a part, that this was one of the many disguises she put on, that what they’d had together had nothing to do with love. At least not for her. He knew all this, but he still wanted to wrap her up in his arms and kiss her.

  He came close, practically vibrating with need.

  “They’re both inside,” she said softly. “They don’t know I’m here yet. I waited for you.”

  He nodded, tried to find his tongue, tried to find something to say.

  “The Collector is taking a line of third-years somewhere,” he said, and it sounded like he was awkwardly trying to talk about anything except how much he wanted her. “Something about Mentis magic,” he finished lamely.

  She gave a sad smile, as though she could see right through him.

  “I don’t want to talk about The Collector,” she murmured.

  “I know.” He sighed.

  “I want to talk to you.” She glanced at the floor, seemingly shy, then drew a quiet breath and glanced back up at him. “This may be our last moment alone, you know.”

  He hesitated, then nodded.

  “I really thought you’d visit me last night,” she whispered, putting a hand on his chest. “I would have visited you, but...I wasn’t sure if you wanted me.”

  He swallowed, tried to hold onto something of himself, some certainty that would give him strength, something besides his aching desire. He cleared his throat. “I didn’t think it mattered to you.”

  Her earnestness dissolved into hurt. “I said I don’t believe in love, Brom,” she said softly. “I didn’t say I don’t believe in you.”

  “I don’t even know what that means. I would die for you, Vale. But you....”

  “I have to believe in love for you to matter to me?” she asked. “Gods, Brom. You matter more than anything in my life.”

  “Almost anything...”

  “Don’t,” she said, and she held up a finger, her eyes glistening. “Don’t make that comparison. We all came here to become Quadrons. You did, too.”

  He shook his head slowly. “It’s all wrong, Vale. We shouldn’t be taking this Test. I feel it in my gut. Tell me you feel it too. Tell me your stomach isn’t churning at the idea of taking the Test today.”

  “It’s not. I don’t feel anything of the kind,” she said. “We’re finally here! We did it! How can you not be excited?”

  “Because one of us is going to die.”

  She swallowed, hesitated. “Let’s just make sure it isn’t either of us. You make it through the Test, okay?”

  “I want you so much,” he whispered. “Maybe we could just—”

  She touched his chin with her fingers. “I... I feel like I hurt you, Brom,” she whispered. “And I didn’t mean to. I wanted to be honest with you. This thing between us... It’s important to me. So important. And if you want to call it love, then call it love. I don’t care. Just make it through the Test today, okay? Just meet me on the other side.”

  “Vale...”

  She leaned in, and it was like she was suddenly the ground and he was a stone falling toward her. He grasped her, and their mouths met desperately. Her fingers slid into his hair, making fists, and he lifted her up in a crushing embrace. She wrapped her legs around him as he pushed her into the wall, kissing her, kissing her, kissing her...

  Finally, they stopped, their foreheads together, panting. She slid her cheek along his and held him tightly with arms and legs.

  “I love you, Vale,” he murmured.

  “You meet me at the other side, do you hear?” Her voice was thick with emotion. “You do what you have to do, and you meet me after.”

  He didn’t want to let her go, but she held on only for another moment, then finally released him, putting her feet softly on the ground. Tears stood in her eyes. “Today, more than any other day in our lives, let’s be our best,” she said. “This thing between us, whatever you want to call it, we’re going to use it to be the best we can be.”

  He nodded.

  Her gaze flicked past him. She quickly brushed away her tears, and a wry smile spread across her face. She cleared her throat and tipped her chin over his shoulder. Brom turned.

  Behind them, a few dozen students had clustered in the grand foyer, mouths open, watching them.

  Fear spiked through him. They’d seen the kiss. They’d tell the masters—

  Vale’s calm hand on his cheek brought him back to face her.

  “Doesn’t matter,” she said. “Not anymore. We’ve been called by The Four. We’re not students, and rules are for students. In a few hours, we take the Test. Let the sheep bleat and cry about the rules. We’re going to make history.”

  He raised a gentle hand to her cheek, mirroring her gesture. “After the Test, we’re going to talk, you and me,” he said. “And I’m going to convince you that love exists.”

  “Promise?” she asked.

  “I promise.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Brom

  The Dome was the building where all Tests of Separation were held. It was enormous—fully ten stories tall and three times that wide. It shone white in the sunlight and looked like a half-sphere of snow placed atop a flat, square, one-story building. It had four archways along the front, and wide, shallow steps leading up to them.

  They all stopped at the base of the steps, the banks of snow high on either side of them, the cobblestone pathway meticulously shoveled.

  “There are sixteen,” Oriana said.

  Brom looked at her.

  “Steps,” she said. “There are sixteen steps.”

  Brom waited for her to explain why that mattered. She didn’t, her haughty mask back in place, and he suddenly realized she’d simply spoken becau
se she was nervous, cataloguing something aloud for no reason.

  Royal cleared his throat but didn’t say anything.

  Vale, beyond Royal, looked down the line of them. “This is where we go our own way,” she said. “After the Test, we’re not Quad Brilliant anymore. We’re Quadrons in our own right.”

  Because the Quad will be broken, Brom thought. Because one of us isn’t coming out of there. He put a hand to his stomach as if that could quell his misgivings. He wanted to vomit.

  “But we are a Quad until then,” Oriana said.

  Brom reached out and took Oriana’s hand. Her long fingers curled around his. They were cool, but they gripped his tightly. Royal’s beefy hand suddenly closed over Brom’s on the other side, engulfing it, and Brom glanced over at him. His gaze was fixed on that enormous dome, and he looked sad. After a moment’s hesitation, Vale latched on to two of Royal’s giant fingers with her small hand.

  “We should go in,” Royal said. “They’re watching us.”

  They started up the steps together. Beyond the arches was a foyer not unlike the grand foyer in Westfall Dormitory. It had a lower ceiling, but similar arches down the hall on either side. Everything was made of marble.

  Directly ahead of them was an arch with two guards, one on either side. The woman, tall and rangy, wore tight chainmail under a blue surcoat emblazoned with the coat of arms of The Four: a red dragon, white owl, blue bear, and black moth. She had the look of someone who could move very fast if she wanted to. Her deep-set hawk’s eyes watched them carefully, starting with Vale, then moving to Royal, Brom and Oriana, then starting again with Vale and proceeding down the line once more.

  The second guard wore snowy-white robes with the same coat of arms on the front, bordered in black. This man had light brown eyes and a round head with a thatch of black hair plastered to his scalp that did nothing to break its perfect roundness. Both guards had the same arrogant mien as the masters, but Brom hadn’t seen either of them in any classes.

  “Mentis and Impetu,” Oriana suddenly said inside their heads, again stating the obvious.

  At first, Brom was surprised Oriana would have opened one of her Soulblocks before the Test began, then he revised his thinking. This could be the beginning of the Test. Hastily, he opened his own first Soulblock.

  The magic crackled into him, lighting up his extremities. His doubled Soulblocks seemed like an endless stack; it made him feel invincible. Reflexively, he connected to the Soul of the World.

  “Mentis and Impetu?” Vale responded sarcastically. “Do you really think so?”

  “Don’t spend time bantering, Vale. Focus,” Royal thought to them.

  “Don’t spend time telling me what to do, Royal. Focus,” Vale shot back. Brom tried not to smile, but it crept onto his lips anyway. Gods, that woman.

  Brom’s intuition suddenly nudged him, and he looked up at the Mentis guard, who had narrowed his eyes. Brom braced for the attack, but even though he knew it was coming, he could do nothing to stop it.

  An invisible blow struck him, like someone had boxed his ears. He gasped. Beside him, Oriana lowered her head, clenching her teeth. Aside from a slight tightening around his eyes, Royal didn’t move. Vale hissed and crouched, drawing a hidden dagger and hurling it at the Mentis, fast as a striking snake. It flipped end-over-end, flying true—

  The Impetu’s long arm flashed out, a blur, and she snatched the dagger from the air. She flipped it her hand, spun it around her wrist, then set it gracefully on the small table in front of her.

  “YOU WILL NOT SPEAK MIND-TO-MIND,” the Mentis guard shouted in their heads so loud it hurt. Vale hissed again.

  “And you will bring no weapons into the Test,” the Impetu guard said out loud. “You will bring no jewels, baubles, possessions of any kind save the clothes you wear.”

  Royal, Vale, and Brom wore the uniforms that had been provided them. Oriana, though, wore a shimmering white dress with an exquisitely embroidered white owl on the front, wings spreading over her chest. It was high-necked, like almost all of Oriana’s dresses, but this one had no jeweled adornments. Instead, silver thread bordered the hem, cuffs, and collar, and she’d tied a silver sash around her waist.

  The Impetu beckoned them forward. “Your Motus and your Mentis will come to this side of the table.”

  “Your Impetu and Anima to this side,” said the Mentis guard, aloud this time instead of in their minds. He pointed at the spot of floor next to him.

  “This isn’t the beginning of the Test?” Brom asked, cautiously moving forward.

  The round-headed Mentis gave a derisive snort, then pointed again to the floor beside him. Royal went to stand where indicated.

  “Remove your boots,” the Mentis commanded, and Royal complied. The guard searched inside the first giant boot, felt quickly around the outside, then inside, then set it down, then repeated with the second boot. Once he was done with that, he patted Royal all over, even under his armpits and around his groin.

  Brom glanced over to see the Impetu giving Oriana the same treatment. Her face had frozen into a sneer, but she gave no word of complaint as the Impetu ran her hands all over her body. Then it was Vale’s turn. Her naked hatred would have made Brom step back, but the Impetu took her life into her own hands and searched Vale, finding another hidden dagger, which she put on the table with the first.

  It took a little bit longer for the Mentis to search Royal’s giant body, but he finally finished and turned to Brom.

  To mask his thoughts and any chance they’d find the hidden spike in his boot, Brom began actively thinking about the Mentis guard’s robe.

  Gods, look at that white robe. So very white. Like freshly fallen snow, that robe. What a fastidious person this Mentis must be to have robes so very white. And that coat of arms. He well represents The Four with that. Could anyone do better, I wonder?

  The Mentis methodically searched the inside and outside of Brom’s boots, then moved on to Brom himself, stopping first to remove the dagger at Brom’s belt and set it on the table.

  I daresay my own mother, a seamstress of great skill, couldn’t have embroidered something so keen for her only son, whom she adores. I wonder how often he washes that robe. Or does he perhaps wick away the dirt and grime with magic of some kind?

  Brom continued to make loud mental observations the entire time the round-headed Mentis searched him. Finally, it was over, and the Mentis had thankfully overlooked the spike hidden in the sole of Brom’s boot.

  “Go in,” the Mentis said as soon as Brom had his boots back on.

  The guards each took hold of one of the double doors and pulled them open.

  “What’s in there?” Brom joked with the guards, but neither said anything nor looked at him.

  “Victory,” Royal rumbled.

  “Pie,” Vale replied irreverently.

  Brom chuckled as they proceeded under the glares of the guards. Quad Brilliant entered The Dome.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Brom

  They entered a cube of a room, twenty-five feet wide and twenty-five feet tall. Brom felt a tingle as he passed through the archway, similar to the tingle he’d felt when he’d first arrived at the academy two years ago. In the middle of the room stood four tall mirrors at right angles, facing outward in a perfect square, each parallel with its opposite wall.

  On the opposite side of the room, two other guards—also a white-robed Mentis and an armored Impetu with a blue surcoat—stood in front of open doors. They looked identical to the two that had just ushered them into the room.

  Brom felt a strange vertigo. Again, his gut clenched, warning him.

  He spun. He could see sunlight and trees beyond the arch on the other side of the room beyond the two guards, just as he could see sunlight and trees through the door they’d entered, and the two guards they’d just left. That meant they were seeing all the way to the other side of the Dome and out onto the campus. But that was impossible. This room was only twenty-five feet long,
and the Dome itself had to be more than three hundred feet across.

  He turned, looked at the guards. With sour faces, they took hold of the doors and began to pull them shut. Brom whipped his head about, and the guards on the far side of the room were doing exactly the same thing.

  “They’re the same guards!” Brom exclaimed.

  “What?” Vale, looking disconcerted, glanced back and forth between the guards. Sure enough, each pair was moving in perfect synchronicity, mirror images.

  The doors thoomed shut, and the guards were gone.

  “This room is too small.” Oriana spoke Brom’s exact thoughts aloud.

  Royal scanned all about, uncomfortable, flexing his fists over and over.

  “This place makes my skin crawl,” Vale growled.

  “I suspect that is its purpose,” Oriana said. “Keep your emotions in check—”

  “Stop telling me to put my emotions away, Princess,” Vale said.

  Oriana continued her scan of the room, but she seemed to decide, as Brom already had, that the only items of note were the four mirrors in the center.

  Brom walked forward carefully, hands out, half expecting to collide with a giant mirror bisecting the room. That would explain why it seemed like there was an identical doorway on the far side. But there was nothing. What they’d seen was somehow real. Brom suddenly shared Vale’s apprehension. Their Test had begun.

  He turned his attention to the four mirrors in the center. At first glance, he’d thought they were identical, but they weren’t. They were all the same shape and size, but each sat in a different border: red, blue, white, and black.

  “We’re supposed to look into those?” Brom murmured, hesitating to come closer.

  Vale approached the white-bordered mirror and looked inside. She shivered and backed away.

  “What?” Oriana asked.

  “There’s no reflection,” Vale said.